Loose coiling installation



Nov. 20, 1962 D. H. KEEN ET AL LOOSE comm; INSTALLATION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Aug. 16, 1960 INVENTORS DOUGLAS 6. KEEN GALE E. PAXTON BY- Arrrs Nv- 1962 D. H. KEEN ETAL 3,064,918

LOOSE COILING INSTALLATION Filed Aug. 16, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTORS V DOUGLAS 6. KEEN GALE E- PAXTON ATT'YS Uited States PatentOfilice Bfidifil Patented Nov. 20, 15362 $264,918 LOOSE COILHJGINSTALLATIGN Douglas H. Keen and Gale E. Paxton, Burlington, ntario,Canada, assignors to Swindell-Dressler Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pin, acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 49,995 18Claims. (Cl. 242-781) This invention relates to apparatus and to amethod for converting tightly wound coils of still fiat strip material,such as cold rolled steel, plastic and paper into loosely wound coilswith a controlled gap spacing between each lap, and for reconverting theloose coils back into tight coils.

The apparatus and method are of special use in the steel industry whereit is practice to anneal and gas alloy cold rolled steel in theloosely-coiled form. The general process of reducing the carbon contentin cold rolled steel as it is annealed by gas alloying, that is, passinga controlled atmosphere of gas over the surface of the steel, is wellknown, and multiple mandrel apparatus and methods have been developedfor converting coils of steel from a tightly wound condition to aloosely wound condition that will permit the alloying gases to passfreely over the surfaces of the steel. This invention relates to animproved apparatus and method for converting the coils from the tightlywound condition to the loosely wound condition and vice versa.

Generally speaking, apparatus according to this invention for convertinga coil of strip material from a tight wind to a loose wind, comprises asubstantially vertical rotatable mounted mandrel adapted to grip theinside end of a coil of strip material and a rotatably mounted supporttable, the support surface of which is substantially in a horizontalplane. A presser roll is provided that is adapted to press against theoutside of the tight roll. The mandrel and presser roll are rotated toreel the strip from a tight roll on the mandrel to a loose roll on thetable. At the same time, the table is rotated at a speed to take up andloosely coil the strip material inwardly of a point where it is securedthereto. The invention will be clearly understood after reference to thefollowing detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawings.

In the drawings, 1

FIGURE 1 is a general view of apparatus according to this invention,partly broken away to illustrate principal components, and

FiGURE 2 is a plan View showing how the apparatus converts a tightlywound coil to a loosely wound coil.

in the drawings there is shown a mandrel, generally indicated by thenumeral ill rotatably mounted on the free end of a piston 12 thatextends from a cylinder 14. The mandrel is formed with an expandable end16 that is adapted, in use, to enter into the opening at the insidediameter of a coil of strip steel and be expanded to securely mount thecoil thereon with the inside free end secured thereto. Expanding coilengaging mandrels for strip steel are well-known in the art and detailis not shown in this specification.

The mandrel it is rotated in use within its mounting by means of themotor 18 through the gear box 2%. The shaft of the mandrel is splinedwhere it engages the drive gear 22 to permit the mandrel to slidevertically of its longitudinal axis as the piston 12 is moved inwardlyand outwardly of its double acting cylinder 14 under the control ofhydraulic fluid fed thereto through the lines 22. The mandrel has beenillustrated in an extended position in FIGURE 1 with the coil engagingend 16 thereof extending above the rotatably mounted support table 26.The mandrel can be dropped to cause the coil engaging end 16 thereof todisappear beneath the support surface of the table 26 by causing thepiston 12 to drop within its cylinder 14. As this occurs the splinedshaft of the mandrel slides through the drive gear 22 of the gear box20.

The table 26 is mounted for rotation on the circular track on the base41 of the machine. it will be noted that the table has spaced apartwheels 42 on the underside thereof, that ride on the circular track 4iwhich is concentric with the centre of rotation of the spindle Ill.

A motor 46 is adapted to turn the table 26 about the track 42 throughthe gear box 48, the pinion 50 of which engages with a circular track 52on the underside of the table 26.

A clamping bar 54 is provided on an outside vertically extending wall ofthe table 26 for the purpose of clamping the outer free end of a coil 56of strip material with respect to the table.

A small rubber-covered presser roll 60 rotatably mounted within abracket or crank assembly 62, is adapted in use to press against theouter lap of a tightly wound coil, on the mandrel. In the embodiment ofthe invention illustrated, it is driven within its rotatable mounting bymeans of a motor 64 through a gear box 66.

Bracket 62, upon which the presser roll 6i is mounted, is rigidlyconnected to the shaft 68. Shaft 68 in turn is slidably mounted in avertical direction and rotatable within the lugs 70 on rigid post '72.Shaft 68 pivotally joined with piston rod 74 of cylinder 76 at its lowerend so that it can turn about its own longitudinal axis with espectthereto. Piston rod '74 has a square cross section and is slidablelongitudinally of itself within its support lug 73. It can not, however,rotate within its support lug.

Another arm of bracket 62 has a vertically extending post 80 thatslidably connects with the free end of a piston 32'. The other end ofpiston 32 is pivotally mounted to the rigid post 84.

In use as will be referred to later, hydraulic piston 32 is operated toturn the crank assembly 62in the direction of the arrow to cause thepresser roll 6'!) to overlie the support surface of the take up table26. Piston 74 is then dropped in its cylinder 76 to permit the crankassembly 62 to fall and lower the presser roll 60 to the height of acoil 56 of strip material overlying the table. The cylinder 82 is thenextended to urge the presser roll 61) against the outside of the stripwith considerable force to keep the coil on the mandrel tightly wound.

The invention can be used for the converting of strip steel from tightlywound coils to loosely wound coils and vice versa. These coils, in thecase of cold rolled steel when tightly coiled, have an inside diameterof between 20" and 24" and an outside diameter of up to 72". The widthof the strip material varies. A common width is 48 inches. However, thematerial is manufactured in Widths up to 72 inches. It is commonpractice to take a tightly wound coil halving an inside diameter of 20inches and an outside of 72 inches and convert it to a loosely woundcoil havnig an inside diameter of about 36 inches and an outsidediameter of 114 inches. This gives gap thickness between adjacent lapsof the coil of about one and one-half times the strip thickness.

The manner of using the apparatus described is as follows. With thepresser roll 60 in the inoperative position illustrated in FIGURE 1 ofthe drawings, and the upper portion 16 of the mandrel lit retracted to aposition below the polished bearing surface of the take up table 26, atightly wound coil of strip steel is centred over the table with thecentre opening thereof aligned with the central opening in the take uptable. The strip steel is handled by means of a crane having a magneticholding device (not shown and not part of this invention).

The mandrel it is then raised by operation of cylinder 14 to partiallyextend the end 16 thereof into the centre opening of a coil of stripmaterial 56. The coil is then lowered onto the bearing surface of thetake up table 26 and the mandrel id is extended into the centre of theopening of the coil to within about one-eighth of an inch of its fullraised position. The inside end of the strip of coil material is thenfixed to the mandrel and the coil engaging end 16 of the mandrel isexpanded to tightly engage with the central opening of the tight coil ofstrip material. The mandrel is then raised to its full extent to liftsome of the weight of the tightly wound coil from the table.

The outside end of the coil of steel is then unravelled and clamped tothe outer peripheral wall of the take up table 26 as at 54-.

The support crank 62 is then raised to clear the Wall of the table byoperation of cylinder 74 swung in the direction of the arrow of FIGURE 1to overlie the table by operation of cylinder 82, dropped over the table26 by opertaion of cylinder 74 and swung to press the presser roll 60into pressing contact with the outer lap of the tight coil.Alternatively, the presser roll could be caused to engage with thetightly coiled roll 56 of strip material before the outer end thereof isclamped as at 54.

The take up table 26, the mandrel 10, and the presser roll 61) are thensimultaneously rotated by means of their respective drive means 46, 18and 64 respectively to unreel the strip material from the tightly woundcoil.

As the strip material is unreeled from the point Where the presser roll60 engages with the outside diameter of the coil 56, the take up table26 rotates to take up the unwound strip and support it on its side edgein a loosely wound coil having an outside diameter equal to the diameterof the table, and with a space between adjacent laps. The processcontinues until all of the tightly wound coil is fed to the looselywound coil.

It will be apparent that the relative speeds of the mandrel, presserroll, and support table will constantly change because the point on thetable where a particular strip section is fed as it is unreeled andwhere it is intended that it should be supported in spiral formationmust travel at the same speed as the unreeled strip at the time of itsarrival at the point where it is to be supported so that there is norelative movement between the two and the table can take up the strip inspiral form. If the rate of unreeling is constant and a constant gapbetween laps on the loose coil is desired the rate of turning of theouter table will have to constantly increase as strip material isunreeled to achieve this. The relative rates of rotation of the mandreland presser roll will also change as the tight coil is unwound. FIGURE 2is a plan view of the table 26 showing a tightly wound coil 56 in theprocess of being reeled out onto the take up table 26 upon which it issupported to its side edges in a loosely wound coil having a gap 90between adjacent laps. The steel is reeled out over the table as at 92and continues to move with respect to the table until it overlies a takeup point thereon that is traveling at the same speed that it istravelling. At this point, it continues to travel with the table anddoes not move with respect thereto. As indicated above the rate ofrotation of the table is adjusted such that the table takes up theunreeled strip in a spiral formation. This speed of the table is variedsuch that the said take up point travels spirally inwardly from wherethe free end of the strip is secured to the table as at 54 along aspiral path upon which the steel is supported with spaced apart gaps 99as indicated. The continuously necessary changes in rotational speed ofthe table can be controlled conveniently by means of a computer.Necessary changes in the speeds of the mandrel and presser roll can alsobe controlled by means of a computer.

To increase the width of the gap 94 one would increase the speed ofrotation of the table and keep the speed of unreeling constant. t willalso be apparent that gap width can be controlled by unreeling speed orby a combination of unreeling speed and table speed.

After the coil has been fully unreeled from the tight roll 56 and is inthe form of a loose coil with gaps 9h between each lap, the inside endthereof is released from the mandrel. The mandrel is dropped below thetable and the loose coil is lifted by means of a crane into a heattreating furnace. After heat treating the loose coil is again centred onthe table with the mandrel in the lower position. The mandrel is thenraised as before and the inside end of the loose coil is inserted intothe gripper of the mandrel and the mandrel is expanded. The mandrelpresser roll and table are again rotated in sychronization to uniformlyrewind the loose coil onto the outside of the mandrel. The presser rollbeing used as a drag on the outer lap of the tight coil to maintaintension as the coil is tightly wound on the When the full coil has beentightened the mandrel is collapsed and retracted into the base and thetightened coil is removed by means of the magnetic crane.

Modifications in the invention will, of course, be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. It may, for example, be desirable to permit thetable to idle in the rewind application rather than drive it insynchronization; or in the earlier operation of unreeling of the tightlywound coil, it may be desirable to let the mandrel idle. Further, it maywell be possible to practice the invention without the presser rollprovided that the stiffness of the material is suflicient to carry itacross the takeup table to the point where it is loosely coiled thereonin the unwinding operation. In some instances, depending on the materialbeing handled, it may also be possible to rewind the material into atight coil without the presser roll. These things and others arevariable Within the scope of the invention.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. Apparatus for converting a coil of strip material from a tight windto a loose wind with a gap between adjacent laps comprising a rotatablymounted mandrel adapted to grip the inside end of a coil of stripmaterial, a table having a support surface adapted to support a looselywound coil of strip material, means on said table for securing the freeend of a coil of strip material, its longitudinal axis substantially atright angles to the support surface of said table and at the centrethereof, a presser roll, means for rotatably mounting said presser rollfor rotation with respect to strip material reeled from and onto saidmandrel respectively, means for urging said presser roll towards saidmandrel to keep a coil between said roll and said spindle tight,separate means for rotating said mandrel and presser roll to reel a coilof strip material from said mandrel out onto said table and in from saidtable onto said mandrel, and means for rotating said table to looselycoil strip material thereon as it is reeled from said mandrel and tofeed strip towards said mandrel as it is reeled onto said mandrel.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said separate means forrotating said mandrel and presser roll comprises drive means forrotating said mandrel and a drive means for rotating said presser roll,

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said table has an openingadjacent to its centre, and having means for moving said mandrel andtable with respect to each other whereby said mandrel can be droppedwith respect to said table.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said table has an openingadjacent to its centre, and having means for moving said mandrel andtable with respect to each other whereby said mandrel can be droppedwith respect to said table, in which said separate means for rotatingsaid mandrel and presser roll comprises drive means for rotating saidmandrel and a drive means for rotating said presser rolls.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said table is formed with anopening adjacent its centre, and in which there are means for movingsaid mandrel longitudinally of the table through said opening in saidtable whereby said mandrel can be dropped beneath the surface of saidtable.

6. Method of forming a tight coil of strip material to a loose coilstrip material comprising the steps of supporting the tight coil forrotation with its rotational axis ubstantially vertical, fixing theoutside end of the tight coil on a rotatable support surface outwardlyof the tight coil a distance equal to the outside diameter of the loosecoil to be wound, exerting a pressure against the outside of the tightcoil where the strip material extends therefrom, turning said tight coilabout its axis to unreel it from the point Where pressure is exertedthereagainst, and supporting the strip material on a side edge thereofas it is unreeled onto said support surface while continuously turningthe support surface to loosely coil the material inwardly of the placeWhere it is fixed thereto as aforesaid.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 in which said support surface isturned at a rate from the beginning of the unreeling of the tight coilsuch that there is a point thereon that travels at the same rate ofspeed as the rate of speed of unreeling of strip from said tight coilsaid point moving spirally inwardly from where said strip is attached tosaid surface towards the centre of rotation as unreeling of the tightcoil progresses, the strip being loosely coiled as aforesaid on thelocus of said point.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 in which said support surface and saidcoil are turned about a common axis of rotation.

9. A method as claimed in claim 6 in which said support surface and saidcoil are turned about a common axis of rotation.

10. A method of forming a loose coil of strip material into a tight coilcomprising the steps of supporting the loose coil on a side edge of thestrip on a rotatable support surface, securing the inside end thereof toa mandrel at the centre of the loose coil rotating the mandrel andsupport surface at relatively differing coordinated speeds to wind thestrip onto the mandrel while maintaining a drag on the strip wound ontothe mandrel by exerting a force against the outside lap of strip on themandrel.

11. Apparatus for converting a coil of strip material from a tight windto a loose wind with a gap between adjacent laps comprising a rotatablymounted mandrel adapted to grip the inside end of a coil of stripmaterial, a table having a support surface adapted to support a looselywound coil of strip material, means on said table for securing the freeend of a coil of strip material, its longitudinal axis substantially atright angles to the support surface of said table and at the centrethereof, means for rotating said mandrel to reel a coil of stripmaterial from said mandrel out onto said table and in from said 6 tableonto said mandrel, and means for rotating said table to loosely coilstrip material thereon as it is reeled from said mandrel and to feedstrip towards said mandrel as it is reeled onto said mandrel.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 in which said table has an openingadjacent to its centre, and having means for moving said mandrel andtable with respect to each other whereby said mandrel can be droppedwith respect to said table.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 in which said table is formed withan opening adjacent its centre, and in which there are means for movingsaid mandrel longitudinally of the table through said opening in saidtable whereby said mandrel can be dropped beneath the surface of saidtable.

14. Method of forming a tight coil of strip material to a loose coilstrip material comprising the steps of supporting the tight coil forrotation with its rotational axis substantially vertical, fixing theoutside end of the tight coil on a rotatable support surface outwardlyof the tight coil a distance equal to the outside diameter of the loosecoil to be wound, turning said tight coil about its axis to unreel it,and supporting the strip material on a side edge thereof as it isunreeled onto said support surface while continuously turning thesupport surface to loosely coil the material inwardly of the place whereit. is fixed thereto as aforesaid.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 in which said support surface isturned at a rate from the beginning of the unreeling of the tight coilsuch that there is a point thereon that travels at the same rate ofspeed as the rate of speed of unwinding of strip from said tight coilsaid point moving spirally inwardly from where said strip is attached tosaid surface towards the centre of rotation as unwinding of the tightcoil progresses, the strip being loosely coiled as aforesaid on thelocus of said point.

16. A method as claimed in claim 1.5 in which said support surface andsaid coil are turned about a common axis of rotation.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14 in Which said support surface andsaid coil are turned about a common axis of rotation.

18. A method of forming a loose coil of strip material into a tight coilcomprising the steps of supporting the loose coil on a side edge of thestrip on 'a rotatable support surface, securing the inside end thereofto a mandrel at the centre of the loose coil, correspondingly andrespectively rotating the mandrel and support surface to wind the striponto the mandrel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,869,004 Bedell et a1. July 26, 1932 2,366,352 Paxson Jan. 2, 19452,673,694 Howell Mar. 30, 1954 2,833,027 Foster May 6. 1958 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent N00 3 064318November 20, 1962 Douglas H Karen et a1,

ars in the above numbered pat- It is hereby certified that error appeetters Patent should read as ent requiring correction and that the saidL corrected below.

a Column 2, line 57 for haiving" read having line 59 for "havnig" readhaving column 3, line 55, for "in" read in to o Signed and sealed this6th day of August 1963 (SEAL) Attest:

DAVID L. LADD ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

